A moment and a country -- Realism and neorealism -- Literary neorealism : narration and testimony -- Rossellini's cities of war and resistance -- Wandering among De Sica's urbanites : shoeshiners, bicycle thieves, miraculous outcasts and a man with a dog -- Visconti's worlds of aestheticism and ideology : between tradition and invention, from country to city -- Faces and spaces of neorealism : from dystopian cities to utopian countries -- The journey beyond neorealism : streetwalkers, political rebels, anti-mafia resisters, stolen children and unwanted citizens.